{"id":2225165,"date":"2024-04-19T12:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/squad-democrat-cori-bush-continues-to-pay-husband-with-campaign-funds-during-doj-inquiry\/"},"modified":"2024-04-19T12:02:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:02:58","slug":"squad-democrat-cori-bush-continues-to-pay-husband-with-campaign-funds-during-doj-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/squad-democrat-cori-bush-continues-to-pay-husband-with-campaign-funds-during-doj-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Representative Cori Bush still uses campaign funds to pay her husband amid ongoing DOJ investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsquad-democrat-cori-bush-continues-to-pay-husband-with-campaign-funds-during-doj-inquiry%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2225165&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Cori Bush \u200d(D-MO) faces\u200b scrutiny\u200d for using her campaign funds to pay her husband for security services amidst a\u2064 Department of Justice inquiry. \u2064Recent filings show payments \u200ctotaling $135,000 since January 2022. Bush defends the payments, stating her husband&#8217;s expertise justifies his role, despite lacking a \u200dcurrent private\u200b security license, as\u200b reported by Fox News. Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) is under investigation for paying her husband $135,000 from her\u2062 campaign \u200cfunds \u200dfor security services\u200d since January 2022. Bush defends this expenditure, citing her husband&#8217;s expertise,\u200b even though he \u2064lacks a current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cori-bush-married-her-unlicensed-security-guard-while-calling-to-defund-police\/\" title=\"Cori Bush Married Her Unlicensed Security Guard While Calling To Defund Police\">private security license<\/a>, according to reports \u2063by Fox News.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/cori-bush\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Cori Bush<\/a> (D-MO) has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2836857\/squad-democrats-personal-problems-spell-doom-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>continued<\/a> payments to her husband for security services despite a Department of Justice investigation into the payments.<\/p>\n<p>Recent Federal Election Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/cgi-bin\/forms\/C00638767\/1776460\/sb\/ALL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>filings<\/a> indicate Bush\u2019s campaign paid her husband, Cortney Merritts, $15,000 this year and has paid him $135,000 since January 2022. Bush has maintained her innocence during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2863956\/squad-democrat-cori-bush-struggles-distance-primary-challenger-doj-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>DOJ\u2019s inquiry<\/a> into her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a rank-and-file member of Congress I am not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services,\u201d Bush said in a January statement confirming the DOJ inquiry into her campaign spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn accordance with all applicable laws and House rules, I retained my husband as part of my security team to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/calls-to-investigate-cori-bushs-60k-payment-to-husband\/\" title=\"Calls to investigate Cori Bush\u2019s 60k payment to husband\">provide security services<\/a> because he has extensive experience in this area, and is able to provide the necessary services at or below a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-ncaa-is-not-above-the-law-brett-kavanaugh-rips-ncaa-in-landmark-case\/\" title=\"\u2018The NCAA Is Not Above The Law\u2019: Brett Kavanaugh Rips NCAA In Landmark Case\">fair market rate<\/a>,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Merritts does not have a private security license, but he did serve as an \u201cair assault soldier in 101st Airborne,\u201d Bush said, along with saying Merritts has worked security for other companies.<\/p>\n<p>Merritts did not have a private security license in St. Louis as of February 2023 and hasn\u2019t had one since 2012, Fox News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/squad-member-doj-investigation-still-paying-husband-campaign-funds-filings-show.amp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a>. The St. Louis Police Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slmpd.org\/private_security.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>requires<\/a> \u201call persons performing a security function\u201d to be licensed. <\/p>\n<p>The department\u2019s website also says that working \u201con an expired license or no license subjects you to arrest or booking.\u201d Basic requirements include being 21 with no felony convictions or chemical dependency and holding U.S. citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>Another of Bush\u2019s security guards who is considered a close friend of hers, Nathaniel Davis, also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2831049\/cori-bush-says-criticisms-of-security-payments-racism-at-its-best\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>does not<\/a> have a private security license. She has paid Davis, who is known for being a \u201cspiritual guru\u201d and claims he is 109 trillion years old, $164,837.50 since September 2020, according to FEC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&#038;committee_id=C00638767&#038;recipient_name=davis&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2016&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2018&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2020&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2022&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2024&#038;disbursement_description=security+services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>filings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What differs with her husband is that all of Davis\u2019s payments have been for \u201csecurity services,\u201d while Bush\u2019s campaign has been filing Merritts\u2019s payments as \u201cwage expenses\u201d since April 2023. In March 2023, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-group-demands-investigation-into-billionaires-us-political-spending\/\" title=\"Watchdog Group Demands Investigation Into Billionaire\u2019s US Political Spending\">watchdog group filed<\/a> a complaint <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/03\/02\/cori-bush-gets-fec-complaint-for-paying-husband-for-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>against<\/a> Bush with the FEC. It isn\u2019t clear whether the FEC began investigating Bush\u2019s campaign based on the complaint. However, the FEC and DOJ investigations started after the complaint was filed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite compensation to Davis and her husband, Bush has spent more than $770,000 on St. Louis-based security companies. Merritts said in October 2023 that he still does security with Bush\u2019s campaign despite initially denying the question.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>asked Bush\u2019s campaign for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democratic Representative Cori Bush from Missouri persists in paying her husband for security services, despite a Department of Justice investigation. Federal Election Commission filings show payments of $15,000 in 2022 and a total of $135,000 since January. Bush asserts her innocence amid the ongoing inquiry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2225166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24072670100694-1024x590.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2225165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24072670100694-1024x590.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2225166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}